What was on the original Thanksgiving menu?
There are only two surviving documents that reference the original Thanksgiving harvest meal. They describe a feast of freshly killed deer, assorted wildfowl, a bounty of cod and bass, and flint, a native variety of corn harvested by the Native Americans, which was eaten as corn bread and porridge.
What was on the Thanksgiving menu during colonial times?
The menu at the first Thanksgiving celebration between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag likely consisted of wild game (venison, goose, duck, pigeon, and turkey), seafood (mussels, clams, oysters, lobsters, bass, and eels), and a combination of wild and cultivated crops including chestnuts, walnuts, squash, beans, and …
What are some foods that were probably eaten at the 1621 feast?
In addition to wildfowl and deer, the colonists and Wampanoag probably ate eels and shellfish, such as lobster, clams and mussels. “They were drying shellfish and smoking other sorts of fish,” says Wall.
What foods were on the Pilgrims Thanksgiving menu?
What They (Likely) Did Have at the First Thanksgiving. So venison was a major ingredient, as well as fowl, but that likely included geese and ducks. Turkeys are a possibility, but were not a common food in that time. Pilgrims grew onions and herbs.
What was not served at the Pilgrims Thanksgiving meal?
Potatoes—white or sweet—would not have been featured on the 1621 table, and neither would sweet corn. Bread-based stuffing was also not made, though the Pilgrims may have used herbs or nuts to stuff birds.
Was there pumpkin pie at the first Thanksgiving?
Northeastern Native American tribes grew squash and pumpkins. The Native Americans brought pumpkins as gifts to the first settlers, and taught them the many uses for pumpkin. This led to serving pumpkin pie at the first Thanksgiving in America about 50 years later.
What types of food did the Pilgrims and natives eat?
Both the Pilgrims and members of the Wampanoag tribe ate pumpkins and other squashes indigenous to New England—possibly even during the harvest festival—but the fledgling colony lacked the butter and wheat flour necessary for making pie crust.
What desserts did the Pilgrims eat on the first Thanksgiving?
Does it include baking a pumpkin, pecan, or apple pie? While that’s quite the tradition today, the Pilgrims didn’t have sweeteners like sugar, molasses, or even honey. It turns out that the desserts on the big day were more likely sweetened by something else entirely: Dried grapes and raisins!
What food was missing from the first Thanksgiving?
Potatoes. Whether mashed or roasted, white or sweet, potatoes had no place at the first Thanksgiving. After encountering it in its native South America, the Spanish began introducing the potato to Europeans around 1570.
Was there mac and cheese at the first Thanksgiving?
If you were to sit down at a Thanksgiving table in 1883, you would see the familiar turkey, cranberry sauce and pies. But, what might surprise you would be, first, macaroni and cheese, and next, how it was viewed as an ‘upper-class’ kind of dish. A lot has changed since 1883.
Was cheesecake served at the first Thanksgiving?
It follows the journey of Karen, founding member of the Cheesecakers Society, as she investigates clues and real historical paintings by Karen Rinaldo, Jean Gerome Ferris, and Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, piecing together the evidence that leads her to an unimaginable discovery: Cheesecake was indeed served at the first …
What spices did the Pilgrims use?
Even though they didn’t have much sugar, the Pilgrims did use many spices. They had salt at the table, and they loved cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and pepper. They liked onions, leeks, and strawberry leaves as well as watercress and yarrow. They also used herbs with unusual names like liverwort.
What desserts did the Pilgrims eat?
Did Pilgrims eat mac and cheese?
The More Things Change… Thanksgiving has long been a staple of US culture, dating back to the pilgrims’ first New World harvest in 1621. Macaroni and cheese has been here for a long time too.
What did the Pilgrims not eat on Thanksgiving?
Potatoes. Whether mashed or roasted, white or sweet, potatoes had no place at the first Thanksgiving.
What was the biggest meal the Pilgrims ate?
In the middle of the day, everyone ate dinner, which was a largest meal of the day made up of several foods. There was probably a thick porridge or bread made from Indian corn and some kind of meat, fowl or fish. Supper was a smaller meal, often just leftovers from dinner.
What do African Americans eat at Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving is more than just a holiday for the average African-American family. It is where we give thanks and gather with each other over scrumptious sweet potato pie, collard greens, turkey, fried chicken, candied yams, and more. One of the main traditions of the African-American Thanksgiving holiday is to pray.
What desserts did Pilgrims eat?